With every technology, there are benefits and downfalls. While I recognize that metaverse technologies are not perfect and should be approached with caution, this section seeks to evaluate the benefits of the metaverse, focusing primarily on the use of immersive virtual reality experiences in an elementary classroom. Some of the reasons why elementary teachers should consider integrating the metaverse into their classroom in the future include future-ready skills, equity, engagement, deeper learning through co-experiences, and relevance.

 

Future-Skills

 

The metaverse is being seen as the future of the internet. This means that it will have an impact on all industries. Ignoring the metaverse in the classroom in the future means failing to help students develop skills they may need in their career aspirations. In the panel discussion video How the Metaverse and Gaming Can Transform Education, Steven Isaac from Epic Games discusses how metaverse within education supports creativity and preparation for the future:

 

 “we’re in a position to support both the next generation of those builders, but also when it comes to industries … a wide array of industries, … fashion, animation, tv, and film these are all other industries that are really being transformed by these technologies. So, if we can get students …. up to speed in these skills in secondary school, we are creating other opportunities, often other pathways for kids, whether or not they’re necessarily going to advance, go on, to a 4-year college” (2022, 7:35).

 

Hirsh-Pasek et al. discuss how immersion in purposefully created virtual worlds guided by an effective teacher, can provide students with 6 C skills: “In this world, children will have “first”-hand experiences in foreign lands, master a broader suite of skills like the 6Cs, and be better equipped to transfer what they learn into the real world of people and places” (2022).

 

 

Equity of Access

 

I have already discussed my initial hesitation about integrating metaverse technologies in the elementary classroom. As I learned more about the benefits of the metaverse in education, the main idea that helped transform my thinking was the impact that metaverse technologies could have on equity of access to experiences and information. I thought back to Miller and Bass (2019)’s statement that “it’s no longer acceptable for technology usage to be an option based on adult interest or comfort levels” (p. 73) as equity of experience is “a focus on recognizing the time in which we live and utilizing the tools of the day” (p. 73). While virtual experiences, cannot entirely replace or replicate real life experience, they can certainly help provide some equity of experience through ease of access. Manzoor (2017) states that “virtual worlds can be used to perform learning activities in an economical and low risk environment” (p. 150) which can open up access to experiences. In discussion of the website KaiXR’s immersive virtual field trips, Coates discusses how virtual reality can help provide experiences for students who may not usually have access to those experiences in the real world: “Children from more advantaged families may have more opportunities to visit museums outside of school. Disadvantaged communities can be overlooked, and minorities can feel excluded from cultural institutions. VR field trips level the playing field a little, meaning children in a classroom anywhere can have the same experience” (2019).

 

 

Engagement

 

 As with many types of technology, student engagement appears to be high while engaged in virtual experiences. Johnson et al.'s article Augmenting Elementary School Education with VR discusses virtual reality experiences that they have used with a partner elementary school since 1998. Throughout these experiences, they state that “Several teachers have told us that this work has engaged children that were ordinarily more reluctant to participate” (p. 8). Students become more interested and immersed in learning through virtual reality experiences, especially when learning is approached like a game; “using games in virtual worlds, teachers can make teaching more game-like. Such way of teaching can generate more interest among students and increase their participation (Manzoor, 2017, p. 152). Suh and Ahn (2022) echo this sentiment by stating “when learning activities become interesting, students will continue to improve and excel in their education. . . one’s degree of interest is related to their performance in the academic context” (p. 4).

 

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Deeper learning Through Co-Experiences

 

In How the Metaverse and Gaming Can Transform Education, Rebecca Kantar from Roblox discusses how students can be engaged in meaningful learning experiences through the metaverse and the types of learning experiences that should be developed for education within the metaverse:

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“think about building experiences that I think fully realize what folks often talk about when they think about reasons to have games as a conduit for learning. Right, travel through ancient Rome to learn about roman history, or explore a simulation of how red lining unfolded over the last 70 years, things that are really compelling reasons to use a 3D interactive, dynamic, immersive medium but often times when we look at what’s out there in the market for educational games … we see things that are more like … you have two fish and they have 2s on them and they swim through a reef that has a 4 on it and it’s just kind of a letdown relative to what all these digital interactive medias could do and provide in terms of deep learning experiences” (2022, 9:47).

 

These types of immersive experiences that students can engage in together through the metaverse have the potential for engaging in deeper conversations about their experiences. It can help provide meaning to content area that students may have had difficulty visualizing without an immersive experience. Though the VR experiments completed by Johnson et al. (2002) were not as advanced or immersive as the ideas discussed by Kantar, they found that VR experiences helped students learn concepts more deeply in order to apply them in real life or lessons, they suggest this is because “the technology helped make science into a personal quest for the children. . . mathematical concepts became real and purposeful in the real world, and perhaps because of that, the children seemed better able to apply those concepts in later lessons” (p. 9).

 

 

Relevance

 

“When it comes to the metaverse, one of the cool things is that I think our kids are already there” – Aaron Sisto (How the Metaverse and Gaming Can Transform Education, 38:35).

 

Miller and Bass (2019) remind us that “school isn’t the only place where values are created. Hobbies and interests that aren’t valued in school are often highly valued in other areas of the community” (p. 61). Ignoring the metaverse’s immersive virtual reality experiences in schools doesn’t mean that students won’t be engaged in them. It just means that we won’t have the opportunity to guide students in how to use these spaces effectively, respectfully, and safely. While the virtual world still isn’t a part of most classrooms, in Suh and Ahn’s (2019) study of elementary school students, they found that “in the case of the VW, 91.1% of the students answered that they had experienced it” (p. 10). While the metaverse is in its early stages, it is undeniable that students are already engaging in the metaverse and, as educators, we need to consider how this will impact education. Hirsh-Pasek et al. express “the metaverse is coming to education. The question is whether as designers, policymakers, educators, and parents, we can mold intentional and appropriate opportunities that are truly educational within this new and exciting context” (2022).

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Watching the panel discussion from the 2022 ASU+GSV Summit (Arizona State University + Global Silicon Valley) How the Metaverse and Gaming Can Transform Education was helpful in understanding why the metaverse could be important in education in the future. It was helpful to learn how the developers of game-based educational programs are working together with educators to create meaningful experiences and imagine how these experiences can become even more engaging within the metaverse. 

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Resources:

 

Coates, C. (2021, April 19). Bring the Museum to the Classroom with VR Field Trips. MuseumNext. Retrieved June 10, 2022, from https://www.museumnext.com/article/bring-the-museum-to-the-classroom-with-virtual-reality-field-trips/

 

Hirsh-Pasek, Z. J. K. M. (2022, March 9). A whole new world: Education meets the metaverse. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/research/a-whole-new-world-education-meets-the-metaverse/

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How the Metaverse and Gaming Can Transform Education | ASU+GSV 2022. (2022, April 12). [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGBTEz_vhkQ

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Johnson, A., Moher, T., Cho, Y., Lin, Y., Haas, D., & Kim, J. (2002). Augmenting elementary school education with VR. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 22(2), 6–9. https://doi.org/10.1109/38.988740

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Manzoor, A. (2017). Pedagogical Potential of Virtual Worlds: Challenges and Opportunities. In G. Panconesi, & M. Guida (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Collaborative Teaching Practice in Virtual Learning Environments (pp. 146-161). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-2426-7.ch008

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Miller, S., & Bass, W. (2019). Leading from the Library: Help your School Community Thrive in the Digital Age. International Society for Technology in Education.

 

Suh, W., & Ahn, S. (2022). Utilizing the Metaverse for Learner-Centered Constructivist Education in the Post-Pandemic Era: An Analysis of Elementary School Students. Journal of Intelligence, 10(1), 17. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence10010017